In U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,496 to Thomas et al., a wheel mounted generator for land vehicles is described. The generator resides at an end of an elongated arm pivotally mounted at the center of rotation of the wheel. The generator, suspended like a pendulum from the arm, has a small rotary member in frictional engagement with the periphery of a hub. Rotation of the wheel causes rotation of the rotary member, as the pendulum-like mounting of the generator remains relatively stationary. The mass of the generator housing is principally at the end of the support arm for the housing. While this is highly desirable, it requires use of miniature generators which are quite expensive and limited in output capacity.
An object of the present invention was to devise a wheel mounted electrical generator of the pendulum type which did not require an ultraminiature construction.